Washing hair pain!

My 4 year old hates washing his hair to the point where he screams in terror and tries to jump out of the bath as soon as he sees the shampoo! It is not a water fear as he loves baths normally and also loves swimming in the pool. We have tried the shower, lying him down in bath, tipping head back and so on. We actually have to hold him forcibly to stop him from hurting himself so we can wash his hair. Any tips on making hair washing easier for both of us would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Best Answer

The poor little man! Has he always been this afraid of having his hair washed or is this a new thing? Has he actually verbalised what he hates so much. Once you know what exactly he doesn’t like it will be much easier to find a solution.

Some things to try could be putting him in goggles to make sure no shampoo or water gets in his eyes, buying a bath visor which also keeps water off his face, maybe doing a sticker chart for great hair washing behaviour, and ensuring that there is no issues with the shampoo you are using on him (sensitivity, stinging etc)

At this age, hair washing is only really required once a week. Try to make shampooing fun by using a mirror and making crazy shampoo hairstyles or beards with the bubbles. You could even set a timer and see how fast you can wash out all the bubbles. Better still, get him to count to 10 and he can make it a challenge for mummy to finish in that time. Hopefully he will soon start to see it as fun (as well as a necessary evil). Fingers crossed it is a passing phase.

The poor little man! Has he always been this afraid of having his hair washed or is this a new thing? Has he actually verbalised what he hates so much. Once you know what exactly he doesn’t like it will be much easier to find a solution.

Some things to try could be putting him in goggles to make sure no shampoo or water gets in his eyes, buying a bath visor which also keeps water off his face, maybe doing a sticker chart for great hair washing behaviour, and ensuring that there is no issues with the shampoo you are using on him (sensitivity, stinging etc)

At this age, hair washing is only really required once a week. Try to make shampooing fun by using a mirror and making crazy shampoo hairstyles or beards with the bubbles. You could even set a timer and see how fast you can wash out all the bubbles. Better still, get him to count to 10 and he can make it a challenge for mummy to finish in that time. Hopefully he will soon start to see it as fun (as well as a necessary evil). Fingers crossed it is a passing phase.

He has never liked having his hair washed but it has gotten worse with age. He doesn’t like getting water/shampoo in his eyes or on his face seems to be the main issue. Will try the reward chart as that worked quite well when potty training. Have tried a bath visor but it doesn’t work as effectively when they are wiggling, might give it another go with a reward chart. Thank you for the tips.

My now 3 yo went through a phase where he would scream from the minute he got in the bath till he got out when it was time to wash his hair for the week. Drove me crazy, as well as it being upsetting for all involved.
I got him to help me pick out a fun plastic animal shaped watering can (we use this to rinse with) and he picked out a kids shampoo with fun characters on it. Things slowly improved.
Goodluck!

We went through this too around the same age. He has only just stopped in the last couple of mths. He used to hate the shower too. And he does swimming lessons and LOVES going under the water, so I just couldn’t work it out. I tried to encourage him to do it himself so he could distract that way. He eventually settled down. Good luck!

I was going to say try letting him wash his own hair and rinse it out with a cup by himself. It maybe good to help him by encouraging him and saying if you wash and rinse your hair by yourself you’ll be a BIG boy! They love praise and encouragement. Good luck and try not to worry. It’s just a phase as stressful as it is for all involved.

My 4 year old hates having his hair washed too, I think it is more the water over his face than the shampoo though. I wash it once a week now unless it actually gets dirty, the rest of the time I just tip bathwater over it or he has a shower with dad.

I have been through this with all 6 of my kids. It does seem to pass with time, but there were times it took 2 of us to bath a child so hair could be washed. We found the best thing was to get it over quickly. I gave my kids a face washer folded up that they held over their eyes like a mask while I was rinsing their hair. This seemed to do the trick, then a quick cuddle after and telling them i am so proud of them encouraged them. I also found, once we started swimming lessons, the hair washing became less of a problem.